Price of a Dream
by animezebra
Summary: Pure Horace Mantis Challenge 6: Nick discovers that even rock stars can be invisible. Slight Nick/Macy.


A/N: I know, I know, I owe you a chapter of Unexpected Beginnings. And I'm working on it, I promise. I'm just a huge Jonas Brother fan (and not in the I want to marry you way because...well, I'm older than they are, lol). When I saw the new challenge, I got so excited that I had to write this fic before I could do anything else. I didn't actually use the line of the song within the story, but I think the idea gets across so I hope that's okay, suburbs. Now that it's up, hopefully I can finish chapter 6 and manage to write something for the other challenges!

Side note: Anyone who hasn't seen the new ep "Double Date" yet, go check it out. It's…well, interesting. I won't say anything more because I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but I liked it!!

Disclaimer: Don't own Jonas. Yet another thing to add to my list of unfulfilled dreams.

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_"I'm standing here but you don't see me_

_I'd give it all for that to change." _

_~Before the Storm_

Nick Lucas, in one word, was focused.

He was five when he got his first guitar. He touched the strings reverently, looked up at his parents and announced, "I'm going to be a rock star." His parents laughed, passing it off as a typical childhood dream, but he was quite serious. He practiced for hours every day, and he eventually drew his brothers in. His determination and talent caught his parents' eye. Their father quit his job, became the band's agent, and the rest was history. Now he was writing his own songs and performing them to sold-out crowds all over the world.

Being a rock star had some pretty sweet benefits, like getting to meet famous people, front-w. And of course, he was truly appreciative of the fans, the best in the world. Without them, he would never be living the dream with his brothers by his side. Besides, as a teenage boy, he was not exactly opposed to groups of girls screaming out their love for him. But he never let the admiration take his eyes off the prize. He had a legacy to leave, and he wasn't going to let anything stop him.

Then he made Macy Misa cry.

The disappointed look on his father's face, the lecture on being a gentleman from his mom, the scathing dressing-down from a livid Stella…none of that made him feel as bad as he did when he saw her big brown eyes fill with tears as she ran out of their studio.

He tried to justify it to himself. After all, it was really Kevin's fault. He was the one who set this whole thing up and then couldn't manage to tell her the truth about her singing. His conscience didn't buy it. It was his idea to cover up her voice instead of treating her like a friend and talking to her. It was a cowardly thing to do, and he knew he had to apologize. And he was going to go with Kevin. Really. But the image of Macy with a javelin had his survival instincts into overdrive, so he chickened out. Again.

Even after Kevin sorted everything out with Macy, the guilt continued to eat Nick alive. He couldn't look at the athlete without his stomach knotting, so he took to avoiding her with a vengeance until Stella cornered him and with one glare had him spilling the whole story. She rolled her eyes and informed him that Macy already knew that it had been his idea and had forgiven and forgotten the incident.

"You guys are her favorite band. She'd forgive you for anything."

"But this isn't about JONAS. This is about me, Nick, messing up with a friend."

Stella raised an eyebrow, curious. "Since when do you care if Macy saw you as anything but a member of JONAS?"

He shrugged, not quite sure of the answer himself. "I don't know. I just do."

She patted him on the shoulder. "Well, I hate to break it to you but Macy is so into this ideal picture she has of you guys that I don't know if she'll ever be able to let it go."

After carefully mulling over the situation, Nick had decided that Stella had to be wrong. After their last incident, Macy couldn't possibly think that the Lucas boys were as perfect as she had once thought, and if he was off the pedestal, maybe he could get to know the fiercely competitive, fun-loving side of Macy. They had gone to school together for months and had a mutual friend in Stella. With some effort, they could at least manage to be friends, right? And at the very least, he had to try to apologize to her.  
He approached the girls as they stood at Stella's locker. "Hello, ladies."

Stella grinned at him as she tossed books in her bag. "Hey Nick."

"Hi, Nick of Jonas." Macy waved at him, giggling nervously.

He tried to hide his wince by turning to the blonde. "Stella, do you think you can come over today after school instead of tomorrow for our wardrobe meeting?"  
"That should be fine. I've got some great ideas for this tour. You're going to look fantastic." She winked at him as she waved her arms around with a flourish, and Nick couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm.

"We always do, thanks to you." Macy let out a sudden squeal, startling the other two.

"Oh, sorry. I was just picturing you guys in Stella's designs. I've seen some of them, and these outfits are just going to make you look even better than ever, if that's even possible. And I don't know how it is because you are all amazing looking. Not that that's all you are…you're all kind and smart and sweet and talented too of course."

He shifted from one foot to another, uncomfortable with the hero-worship in Macy's eyes. "We're really not all that Macy. We're just regular guys who happen to love music.

" Oh, of course! You're totally normal guys…who write the most beautiful songs and sing like angels… She smiled dreamily.

Nick swallowed hard at the disappointment climbing up his throat and forced himself to keep going. "And I'm really sorry about how we treated you with the whole singing thing. It was my idea, and I feel terrible about it."

Her breathing became shallow, and she began to fan her face with her hands as an excited grin spread across her lips. "Oh my gosh. This is the second time a member of JONAS is apologizing to me. This is so totally going on the blog on my fansite. How could I not forgive you, especially when you've given me yet another incident that proves how wonderful and perfect you guys are?" Stella rolled her eyes at her friend's raptures and made a shooing gesture at Nick.

"You should go before she really gets started. I'll see you after school, kay?"

He nodded slowly, glancing at Macy. "Yeah. Bye Macy."

"Bye, Nick of Jonas!"

He gave a halfhearted wave and turned to walk to his next class, hands in his pockets and a frown on his face. Macy noticed him, all right...as Nick of Jonas, one-third of her favorite band. Given her reaction to his apology, he didn't think that even his best efforts would help her see beyond that to the regular guy behind the fame, and that stung. Yes, he understood that achiving his goals came at a cost, but it didn't seem fair that all people saw him as was a member of an international music sensation. Even with all his fame, when it actually counted, Nick Lucas was invisible.

As he turned the corner, he glanced back to see Macy laughing with Stella, and for the first time ever, he wished he was just a normal sixteen-year-old guy.

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A/N: Hmm…I'm oddly pleased with this, even though it's not really that well written. I guess it was just fun to write, especially because I decided to use a slightly different take on the line. Hope that came through... Reviews, good and bad, are ALWAYS welcome. It makes my day to see my inbox with review alerts, so please review! Thanks!


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